Rivers of Time
by Once Upon A Star Trek
Summary: An accident leads to Regina switching places with her past self. Will Storybrooke survive? And will present Regina find her way home?
1. AN

**Hey everyone.**

**I know, I have an unfinished story waiting, but this one popped up in my mind and I just had to start writing it or it would have made me nuts. So enjoy this one.**

**And yes, the chapter length is intended. It'll vary immensely, but the shorter, the sooner a new chapter pops up. I don't think it makes much of a difference if you have many short or few long chapters. I was planning on splitting every time the place/time changes. Let's see how that works out.**

**Greetings.**


	2. Chapter 2

Storybrooke, present:

"Phew, crisis averted I'd say", Emma sighed in relief, looking around the pawnshop.

They had successfully sucked the Darkness out of Gold using the sorcerer's hat. It had tried to break free from the hat, but Emma and Regina had combined their powers and their joint effort had been able to contain it.

"We'll see how long until the next one", David responded dryly.

If he'd known just how quickly the next problem would arise, he would not have said that. Because right in that second, the sheriff leaned against one of the exhibition counters, knocking down a … thing, whatever it was. It looked like a weird little box, that's all Emma could tell before the thing shattered on the floor.

"Oh really Miss Swan, why do you have to be such a klutz?!" It was pretty obvious who that snark had come from. "Whatever." Emma mindlessly put out her foot, kicking the remains to the side. But instead of kicking them to the side, she managed to land them directly in front of Regina, who was engulfed by grey smoke that started to pour out of the box. Her eyes widened in confusion and shock over the unpleasant feeling of being invaded by an unknown magic.

"Woah, what the hell is happening?!", the savior asked. But the only one who would know was still unconscious on the floor, recovering from his heart being almost completely black and then having the Darkness sucked out.

A vortical aquamarine swirl formed behind the mayor, sucking her, and only her, in. Regina lost her footing and desperately tried to hold onto something, but her hands were only grasping into thin air. Mary Margaret and Robin had the presence of mind to run over to her and grab her arms. But the swirl's pull was stronger than them. Regina was slipping through their fingers and disappeared into the swirl, which vanished immediately.

For a few moments, no one knew what to say. Until Emma broke the silence. "What was that, what happened? Where is Regina?", she demanded harshly from Gold, who had woken up during the next escalation and brought himself into a standing position with the help from Belle. The imp shrugged. "The question is not where, but when."


	3. Chapter 3

_?:_

_'What the hell is happening?', was all Regina could think._

_She was being pulled through an endless kaleidoscope of colors by some immensely strong force, in a speed that made her nauseous. Her mind was racing almost at her traveling speed._

_She couldn't help it, but panic began to take root inside the brunette. Her breathing grew erratic and the colors around her seemed to swirl even crazier, even though that should not even be possible._

_Just when would this end?_


	4. Chapter 4

Storybrooke, present:

"When? So this thing sent her through time? What exactly was that thing?" Questions over questions. "Well, wouldn't you like to know?", Gold mocked, but decided to answer the band of "heroes" that were babbling around like scared up chickens. "Well, this was an artifact that had the power to make a person switch places with themselves in another time. Which means that whenever Regina ends up, the version of her belonging to that time will land here."

David looked rightly worried. "Is there any way to determine wher- uh- when she is, so that we know what kind of Regina to prepare for? I mean, I doubt we'd have much to fear from a future Regina, but with her past…" "Yes, thank you for asking", Gold interrupted him. "This object can randomly pull someone back or push them forward. And since Regina was pulled, that means that she is travelling backwards."

"Oh great, so if we're unlucky, the Evil Queen will show up in Storybrooke," Snow sighed. "We'll see, she should show up soon. The longer the journey, the longer the time difference she is traversing. However, I don't have any experience with this artifact, so I cannot tell you how strongly the two are correlated exactly."

"Why didn't you use this yourself? You know, to see if you'd find Neal and how to make it happen?", Emma asked. "Seems like a pretty neat thing." "Well for one, Miss Swan, as you should probably know, nothing good ever comes from tinkering with time," Gold said in a condescending tone, as if he was explaining the alphabet to first graders. "Also, one can't know in advance if one will be pushed forward or pulled back, it was a 50/50 chance. But most importantly, I never found out how to reverse the spell."

"Wait, you don't know how we can switch them back?", Robin asked. "Isn't that what I just said?", Gold responded annoyed. "There are several possibilities. Maybe, another spell is required, one which I don't know. Or maybe, it could be simply temporary and they will switch back after a set amount of time. But since a spell based around an artifact usually requires said artifact to automatically reverse itself and this one is destroyed, the situation appears very dire. Or it was always meant to be a permanent switch. But how am I to know, since you so masterfully destroyed the artifact we are talking about, Miss Swan." "Sorry", the blonde pouted. She deserved the resentment, she guessed. This was all her fault after all.

"So we potentially have the Evil Queen on our hands, without a way to send her back and get our Regina back." David sighed. "So much for time until the next crisis."

**[AN: I really wanted to end this chapter on this sentence, because Ba-dumm-tssssss. But nope.]**

Henry came running into the shop out of breath. "Did it work? Is the Darkness gone?" He looked around with a hopeful smile, but was met with grim faces. "What? What happened?" Realization hit him.

"Where's mom?" Emma sighed. "Oh Henry, it's complica-" "No, actually it's pretty easy," the teenager interjected. "Kid…" "No, don't "kid" me right now. Where's my mom?" Henry looked askingly at his grandfather. He wouldn't sugarcoat anything or lie to him to "protect him". As he had hoped, Mr. Gold told him. "Your mother was sent back in time and her past self will show up here any second."

"Woah, that's-" "Super dangerous", Emma said. "If her Evil Queen self gets here, we'll have a problem. You should go home where it's safe, I don't want you hurt." Henry looked at his blonde mother as if she had grown two heads. "But she's my mom, I wanna stay!" "Kid-" "No!" "Henry! You didn't know her back then."

"I think Henry is right", Snow said. "He might not have known her, but I did. No matter how dark she was, I feel that Regina has always cared for children. Even with all that hate in her heart, she never hurt me until I was grown up. If anyone is safe, it's Henry." Emma relented with a huff, she couldn't win against her mother. So they waited, hoping for the best. Or rather, the least bad.


	5. Chapter 5

_?:_

_The air was pressed out the mayor's lungs, when she collided harshly with a body being pushed into her. She managed to turn around just slightly while continuing to be pulled backwards._

_Regina had been prepared for many things, but not for being eye to eye with herself. Her younger self, but still. And she seemed just as shocked as her. What the hell was this thing?_

_Before she could dwell on it too much, her blast from the past was already too far away, being pushed with a speed about the same as her._

_But the collision had thrown them slightly off course and they were now merely tumbling uncontrollably towards whatever destination was awaiting them._


	6. Chapter 6

Storybrooke, present:

"I know you don't know how long exactly it should take", Snow said after a good amount of time had passed, "but it's been a while, shouldn't she be here by now?" "Well, since its use was definitely not intentional, Regina's confusion might have brought a chaos into the spell that could tinker with it. It is entirely possible that she shows up somewhere entirely different," Gold replied with a calmness that made no sense at all. "So, the Evil Queen could already be in Storybrooke wreaking havoc?" "That is entirely possible. But wouldn't you have received calls from citizens by now?"

As irony would have it, Emma's phone rang right in that moment. She accepted the call with a sense of foreboding. The call was short, but everyone else in the room was able to tell from her face. After disconnecting the call, Emma sighed.

"That was Granny. A swirl is forming, her description matches the one we had here." Robin jumped up in a heartbeat and was almost halfway out of the door. "Where?" "Main Street on Moncton Street, in the middle of the intersection below the clocktower."

Without losing any words, the group ran out of the shop (minus Gold, who walked at a moderate pace) and towards the potential doom of Storybrooke.


	7. Chapter 7

Enchanted Forest, past:

Without a single warning, the swirl stopped abruptly. Regina cried out in surprise as she collided with a cold stone floor. Her ribs were screaming at her and the brunette bit her lower lip trying to rein in the sudden pain.

When the disorientation finally ceased and the nausea improved, the mayor opened her eyes to inspect her surroundings. And what she saw, she definitely did not like. The interior told her that she was inside a royal castle. And the huge bed told her exactly where in that castle she was.

"There you are, my queen." The only sound that passed her lips was a terrified "No."


	8. Chapter 8

Storybrooke, present:

When the group arrived at the clocktower, Emma was expecting hell. But what she saw, made her stop.

A tiny brunette girl clad in a light pink gown and jewels was standing in the middle of the intersection. Car horns were blaring and drivers were yelling at the girl to get out of the street, but she was frozen in fear. The girl was panically looking back and forth, trying to understand what was going on, where she was. But she had never seen anything like this. The girl wrapped her arms around herself to protect herself and screwed her eyes shut, shrinking in terror.

"That's not the Evil Queen", Snow said, her voice full of relief. "Emma, meet the Queen."


	9. Chapter 9

Enchanted Forest, past:

This couldn't be! Anything, but not this! Regina stared in shock at the man of her nightmares. How was she back here, in this hell?

"No. This can't be. You… you're... you're dead!" The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. This had to be simply one of her usual nightmares. She had those all the time. But why didn't it feel like one of those, why did it feel so real?

A harsh slap to the right cheek pulled Regina out of her musings. Rough hands grabbed her upper arms and pulled her to standing, their strong grip would surely leave bruises. "Planning high treason, are we?", Leopold spat in her face.

The disgust and condescension in the King's face were just as they had always been. In his hold, Regina was reduced to the anxious, pathetic and traumatized girl she had been back then - or was it now? Her walls and emotional control crumbled, exposing the vulnerable mess behind it. And just like that, all the decades of healing she had accomplished were undone within mere seconds.

In her panic, Regina had been to busy to realize that Leopold had not noticed her different look. In fact, she had reverted to the little girl in her mind and thus had even forgotten about that little detail herself.

It came back to her when she became aware of the sleek feeling of her suit jacket against her arm again. Just like Miss Swan had her red leather jacket as her armor, Regina's was the pantsuit. And it would fulfil its purpose. She might be unable to raise her own walls back up, but she could hide behind the cotton ones. And so she tried.

But in this situation, her usual method of suppressing any emotion was so difficult, she might as well try to move a mountain. 'Come on! Work, dammit!', she pleaded with herself. She had to do this. She was the mayor. Not a cowering queen. She could do this.

Once controlled enough, the mayor assessed the situation logically and systematically. Why hadn't Leopold noticed her different look? A breath through the nose answered that question. He was drunk. Very drunk. Too drunk to notice anything. Well, that would work in her favor.

A slight twist of her right hand knocked the King unconscious. Now, Regina could start figuring out what the heck had happened.


	10. Chapter 10

Storybrooke, present:

The sheriff couldn't watch any more. She sprinted into the street and guided - more like gently dragged - the horrified girl to the sidewalk. "It's okay, you're okay. Breathe," she tried to soothe her. But young Regina was too hysterical to calm down. In fact, her hands were shooting sparks that were definitely not intentional. She didn't even seem to notice that she was burning herself. Immediately recognizing the behavior, Emma continued to whisper sweet reassurances into the young queen's ear. "You're safe, honey. I've got you."

Against her judgement and purely following her instinct, Emma gently embraced the beautiful brunette. Regina immediately tensed upon the contact and Emma suffered a few burns, but she eventually sagged in her hold. They remained there on the sidewalk, in each others' arms, for the endless minutes Regina needed to compose herself.

As soon as her mind had brought her emotions under control and the mask of confidence hid the tears, she chided herself for this excessive amount of hysterical emotions. A queen always had to keep up appearances. The condescending voice inside her head sounded suspiciously like mother.

As if burned, Regina ducked out of the embrace of the woman, allowing her to look at her. She had never seen this woman before, but she trusted her. The only people who had ever cared for her were Daniel, who was dead, and her father, who obviously didn't even love her enough. And here was this woman, who had nothing to do with her.

"Thank you for your assistance", she said in the most regal manner she could manage at the moment. The woman grinned. "No problem, Regina." "How do you know my name?", the younger woman asked shocked.

"Don't worry, I can explain everything. It's gonna sound crazy, but it's true. How about we go somewhere nicer than this intersection for that, huh?" Regina nodded slowly. "Okay then. You look starved to death, we need to get some food in you. Granny's it is." "Are you sure that's a good idea, Emma?", a shorter woman with a pixie-cut asked the blonde woman.

So her name was Emma, Regina committed that name to memory. But the other woman, she seemed familiar…almost like... "Snow White?"

Her mind was racing. How could that be?! "Yes, it's me", Snow smiled. "But...but how can that be? You were a child. And now you're...grown up. What is going on here?" Regina got worked up again, hugging herself for a split second as if to shield herself from the world, before realizing what she was doing and quickly dropping her arms to her sides.

"Don't worry, we will explain." Snow gave a pointed glare to Emma. "But not at Granny's, why bombard her with even more new things all at once? We're going to the apartment." And thus, they took off, forgetting the other people that Regina hadn't even noticed in her state.

It was a good choice, because the apartment was within walking distance. They would have never managed to get Regina into a car. She jumped every time one drove past and hid behind Emma. "What are those things?" "You mean cars? They are modes of transportation, like a carriage that doesn't need a horse", Snow explained kindly.

She was overjoyed over seeing her stepmother again, the woman who had saved her life, the way she had been before her descent into the darkness. How was she supposed to know, that Regina had already seen the Dark One and was very early in her apprenticeship?


	11. Chapter 11

Enchanted Forest, past:

Okay, what did she know? She was in the past. That was all, how underwhelming. If only she knew just what that thing had been that Miss Swan had kicked in front of her, then she could try to find a way to reverse it.

Regina's mind was racing. She did not want to be here, in this place that brought all those horrible memories back and made her skin crawl. The faster she figured it out, the faster she could get home. A plan was needed.

Regina grabbed the bedpost to steady herself and focus her thoughts. In the process, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror on the wall. One thing was clear, she could not stay in this attire, that would draw attention. As much as Regina loathed the idea, she would have to wear one of the dresses she had been forced to wear in her early days as queen, when Leopold had chosen her wardrobe. Horrible pastel colors, tight corsets that made breathing nearly impossible and long sleeves as this was before she had learned how to glamour bruises and scars. Oh, and a hairstyle. Thank heavens for magic.

Once done, Regina risked another glance in the mirror. And what she saw, made her shudder. The loss of her armor revealed her vulnerability underneath yet again. She looked just like she had all those years ago, weak, naive, scared.

"You're not her anymore", she murmured to herself, in a desperate attempt to overcome her weakness. "That was decades ago. You've changed, you're stronger now." But she didn't feel strong or changed, she felt like the 18 year old girl again that had slowly died a little with every passing day spent in that castle.

What now? Regina waved her hands over Leopold's face, altering his memories and teleporting him to his bed. To him, he would have simply drunk too much and passed out in his bed.

After that was done, Regina was left to ponder. It would be good to know the exact time she had landed in. Was it just in the beginning of the marriage, or was she sometime later, when she had started descending into the darkness?

Darkness, that was it! The box would be in his possession in the future, so there was a possibility that he already had it. And even if not, he knew so much about magic. It just had to work. Regina waved her hands in order to teleport, desperately hoping that Rumple would have answers for her.


	12. Chapter 12

Storybrooke, present:

Once inside the loft, the girl was relocated to the couch in the company of a man called David while the two women went to the kitchen to make a warm beverage whose name Regina hadn't caught. They were back quickly and dropped onto the couch.

"Where do I start?", Snow asked. "At the beginning would be a good idea", David quipped. "Sure. But at the beginning of our shared story, or at the true beginning of it all, some centuries ago? I don't wanna overwhelm her."

Emma cut in, addressing Regina. "You're in the future. And in a different realm, this is the Land Without Magic and we're in a town called Storybrooke."

On the outside, Regina showed no reaction, but her thoughts were racing thousands of miles a minute. The future. That would explain Snow being older than her, but it still seemed so impossible.

"If we were to assume that I believed you, how would I have come here?", she asked. "Well, there was an accident with a magical artifact, it switched you with the Regina who belongs here in our time," Snow said. The queen's eyes widened.

"I was shoved through a weird space, everything was swirling and confusing, and I collided with a woman, she looked a little like me, but older and dressed oddly. Could that be her?" Emma shrugged. "I don't know, I'm clueless about the details. We would have to ask Gold."

A minute later, they were all holding mugs filled with a steaming brown liquid in their hands. "This Gold, if he knows about magical things, is he a sorcerer?", Regina asked while holding her mug in her hands, too wary of the situation to consume any drink offered to her by strangers. "And you said this is the Land Without Magic, but also that this was something magical. I do not understand, it does not make any sense."

"Sorry, we didn't wanna confuse you", Emma apologized. "Gold brought magic to this town, so we're a bubble in the Land Without Magic. And he knows so much about magic because he is the Dark One."

Regina stilled and might have turned a few shades paler. Just thinking of Rumplestiltskin, her cruel mentor, sent shivers down her spine. But she tried to not let it show, because she couldn't risk anyone knowing about her apprenticeship in the dark arts. If anyone ever found out, there would be consequences for her.

Regina carefully set the mug on the little table in front of her. However, the motion caused her sleeve to move up just slightly. The queen looked around the others' faces, checking if they had seen anything, while pulling down her sleeve again. "Would you tell me more about this world and how I can return to my own, please?", she asked shyly. "Actually", Emma cut in. "Can I talk to you alone, m-Snow?"

Snow and Emma left for the bedroom and closed the door behind them for privacy. And yet again, Regina was left with David, both sitting on that couch. He was drinking his "cocoa" while Regina was sitting upright and stiff as a statue, staring into space. She did not want to overhear the women's conversation, but part of her couldn't help but be curious.

* * *

"Are you kidding me?", Emma almost screamed. "You're telling me that this was Regina when she was married to your father?! How old is that girl in there? And how old was he?" Snow shrugged. "I don't know. She was about 18, or 17... He was older…"

Emma's last question had been a rhetorical one. She had seen images of her grandfather in the book that told her just how old the man had been. "That's...that's awful!" "That's how things were in our world", her mother responded. "Well thank god we're not in your world. I wouldn't have wanted to be married off to some cruel man old enough to be my grandfather."

"My father was a kind man!", Snow retorted, which made Emma stare at her as if she had grown two heads. "Did you not see that girl in there?! The terrified teenager with the bruises and scars on her arms, the agony in her eyes?! You keep going on about how Regina was so evil to the core and you never even mentioned that she was abused?! I know an abused kid when I see one, and Regina has been put through literal hell!"

Snow looked shocked and in denial. "My father was the most gentle and caring man in the lands." The blonde took a deep breath to try to stop herself from strangling her mother. "You were a child, I will give you that. Maybe, you just didn't see it back then. But how can you not see it just now? You keep blaming Regina for being pure evil, but you never bothered to find out why she became that way? Because you were happy in your perfect world where you were all good and Regina was all bad? Well, if you ever want to know how evil is made, take a look at the child you made your mother. I know what being abused does to a person."

"But you turned out good, Emma", Snow argued. "You forget that I was a criminal and that I was in jail. And also, I had a few people who helped me up when I was down, like August or Neal, unborn Henry and even Ingrid for a while. Who did Regina have to support her? Daniel...oh right, he was murdered. Anyone else?" Her mother only weakly shook her head. She still looked shell shocked, but Emma plowed on.

"See? How did you expect her to survive like that? She pieced herself back together and did the only thing she could think of: hurting the people who hurt her." The saviour saw herself in the hurt little girl in the living room and she would be damned if she didn't help her. "You know what, I'm done with this conversation. I'm gonna go out there and help Regina, while you figure out your worldview."

She knew they had to, but the saviour was horrified at the thought of sending Regina back to her time. How could she in good conscience send her back to that man? In this moment, Emma wanted to say "screw the timeline" so badly. But that would have grave consequences, she knew from experience.

However, Emma was not only worried for the girl, she was also frightened for present Regina, who was back with her abuser right now. She couldn't just leave her there in order to spare her past self, who knew what being back in the hands of your tormentor would do to a person?


	13. Chapter 13

Enchanted Forest, past:

"Someone has been practicing, I see", the high pitched, childlike voice of Rumplestiltskin greeted Regina, sending shivers down her spine as usual. Oh, how she hated that man. "What brings you here, you are early for your lesson."

The mayor's mind was racing. What to tell him? After all, corrupting the timeline was not an option. But how could her old mentor help her if she didn't tell him? That was quite a dilemma. In her desperation, Regina tried the first approach that came to her mind. "I need to know about time travel. As in what kind of objects can be used for it."

The Dark One giggled. "Two questions. Firstly, why would you have any need to know about that? And secondly, why in the world should I share my knowledge with you?"

"Because I asked you nicely", Regina replied while forming a fireball. But Rumple turned away. Regina was getting more and more desperate. If Rumple didn't help her, then who could? "I know about Baelfire."

That made the Dark One spin around on his heels. "What? What do you know about Baelfire?!", he demanded. Regina grinned evilly, or at least tried to. Trying to look scary was really hard in that light yellow gown.

"You are training me with the single goal in mind to make me dark and so filled with hate and revenge, that I cast your Dark Curse which you need in order to find your son in the Land Without Magic." Precise and straight to the point. The Dark One nodded impressed.

"You're not from here", he noticed. Then, he considered the teleportation and the fireball, both of which his student had not yet mastered. "Or, to be more precise, you're not from now." Regina sighed, snuffing out the fire in her hand. "Exactly. I need to return to my time and I came to my old mentor for help."

"Well, in that case…"


	14. Chapter 14

Storybrooke, present:

When Emma Swan reentered the living area fuming, the young queen tensed. She had considered the woman trustworthy and had felt safe with her upon first glance. But right now, she was not safe. Right now, the blonde woman reminded Regina of her husband.

And although her flinching was barely noticeable, Emma, who now knew what signs to look for, saw it and immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry Regina, I didn't want to scare you", she apologized. The queen accepted with a carefully trained nod. "Apology accepted."

"So, what now?", David said, completely clueless about what had just transpired. "Well, I say we go to Gold", Emma said. "Like it or not, he's the only one who can help us right now." "Are you sure, Emma?", her father asked. "We could always-" "Always what? Our only other option isn't really available at the moment."

Regina looked back and forth between the two, confused. "What do you mean, what other option? I would prefer everything to Rumplestiltskin." Emma sighed. "Our other option would have been present you. You're like the go-to person whenever we have a magical problem in town, since you're obviously a lot more trustworthy than Rumple and I kinda sorta always neglect my magic lessons. But I guess, we have to make do with him right now."

Regina had stopped listening somewhere in the middle of the response. They knew about her doing magic. There was no hiding.

As they walked through the door of "Gold's Pawn Shop" as the sign over it said, a bell rung, sending shivers down the young queen's spine. "Who do we have here?", Mr. Gold asked. "We need your help, Gold", Emma demanded. Regina did a double-take, she had not recognized the man without his scaly skin. "Ah Miss Swan, I was wondering when you "heroes" would grace me with your presence to demand my help with a problem you caused." Gold snickered. He was back to his old self, no matter how black the heart.

Finally, his gaze fell on Regina, whose trained stiff posture was betrayed by the frantic darting around of her eyes. "It appears you were in luck, Miss Swan, you avoided a catastrophe by just a few years." However, he took pity on the young queen. "I take it, these fools couldn't explain to you what happened. If you follow me to the back, I will explain." Regina nodded shakily. Her fear of the man was outweighed by her need for answers. But he was different.

"He seems kinder than when I met him." The words were out before she knew it. Horrified, the queen clasped a hand over her mouth. Now they knew that she knew the Dark One.

Fortunately, Emma seemed unfazed by the news. "He is. You and I pulled the darkness out of him and saved his life before you got whisked away."

Take the Darkness out of the Dark One? That had to be very powerful magic. So if she would learn how to do that, would she have also… "Is Daniel alive?"

No one in the room knew how to answer that, an awkward silence filled the room. Eventually, David - who remembered the whole zombie situation - took heart and replied: "No, I am sorry." All the years of training couldn't hold the girl upright, she visibly deflated. So it had been for naught, she had failed.

"Well," Ru-Gold began. "There was an artifact called the 'Zsimpet', with the power to make a person switch places with their counterpart in another time. Miss Swan here accidentally destroyed it and pushed the remains towards your future self and thus, she was hit by the spell." Regina looked at Emma. "You are responsible for bringing me here?" Emma gulped.

After the news about Daniel, Regina had shut off and raised walls she had no idea how to break, so the blonde had no idea what to make of her emotionless voice. She eventually settled on replying: "Yeah." "Thank you." Rumple shook his head.

"Don't take too much credit, Miss Swan." He went back to addressing Regina. "The Zsimpet's switch is random, one cannot know in advance when one would land. That was not at Miss Swan's discretion. Although, she did set the events in motion." Regina gulped. "When we arrived, you said that they avoided a catastrophe by a few years. And now, you say that my being here is nothing but chance. What would have happened if the spell had taken myself from a few years later?"

Snow opened her mouth to answer, but Rumple shook his head. "I am afraid we must limit your knowledge of your future, for your own good and that of the timeline." That did not sound good, Regina knew. She had to find out what would happen - no, what had happened - between her own time and the one she had found herself in.

"I assume you are new to the crown and at the beginning of your studies, am I correct?", Gold asked. Regina looked down and nodded. "Yes." He knew her too well, that was not a good sign. She had been queen for over a year and his student for a few months. "I understand that this is a lot to take in and this world is very different from the one you are used to, but a lot has changed in 48 years."

48 years? This could not be real. Regina looked over to Snow, who was her one constant, the only person she knew here - well, apart from Rumplestiltskin - and who was most certainly not close to 60 years old.

"I know, I don't look my age, none of us do." The princess smiled. "Y-There was a curse that froze time for 28 years." Luckily, no one saw Emma rolling her eyes. Her mother had almost done the very thing again that had started the whole war, she definitely needed some duct tape to tape her mouth shut.

"This means that all of you haven't aged for almost three decades?", Regina asked while looking around the room. "Well, you all haven't", Emma said. "Only Henry and I have."

That caught the young queen's attention and a joyous grin found its way onto her face at the thought of seeing her father among all this insanity. But it faded quickly. If he was here, why wouldn't her daddy have found her already?

"Henry is your son", Snow explained. "I-I have a son?" Regina was shocked. "Where is he, may I see him?"

Emma contemplated for a moment. Eventually, she meekly admitted: "To be honest, I'm not 100% sure where he is. I guess I forgot about him in the tumult of you showing up.

Now that I think of it, we left a couple of people under the clocktower. So I'm guessing he would either be with Robin or Hook." Noticing Regina's confusion, Emma quickly added: "Your and my boyfriend." Regina began feeling like she had landed in a mirror universe instead of the future. Her ever finding love again seemed so impossible.

"I'm gonna call Hook", Emma said. "He's the only one I know how to reach. If he remembers how to answer a call."

Turns out the three guys were hanging out together, Hook and Hood having felt discarded and decided to take care of their loves' son together.

"They'll be here in a couple minutes", Emma said after hanging up her phone, which Regina had critically stared at the whole time. "How is he?", Regina asked. "Would you please tell me something about my son?" "Sure", Emma grinned.

"He's awesome and kind and hella smart. Hm, what else? Oh yeah, he's 14, but I'm sure he's over the teenage rebellion phase, he had that when he was 10. You did a fantastic job raising him, he's such a good kid. Well behaved, errr apart from the times he snuck out or stole his teacher's credit card, but those are the few times that nature won out over nurture…"

The longer the blonde rambled on, the more confused Regina grew.

"Oh yeah, you adopted him, I gave him up for adoption after he was born. He found me and brought me to town when he was 10."

Emma mentally hit herself once she saw the flicker in Regina's eyes. "Please do not take any offense, but why did he search for you? Was I not good enough for him?" The words were said without malice, they were dripping with self-doubt and sadness. Regina was used to never being enough, but her own son? "No, it's not that, it was...hella complicated."

Snow sighed. "I'm gonna tell her." "Don't you dare!", Emma exclaimed. Her mother grew agitated. "She needs to know!" "Needs to know what?", Regina asked with a shy and confused voice.


End file.
